The World Health Organization (WHO) reported yesterday that it had received confirmation from the Saudi Arabia health ministry that another person has died from the coronavirus, raising the death toll to nine and total case count to 15 since the first case was discovered last fall.

The deadly new virus that has caused 14 people to fall ill and resulted in eight fatalities to date has yet to infect anyone in the US, but that hasn’t stopped the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) from issuing a preemptive warning to state and local health officials.

A new strain of coronavirus, which has already infected 12 people and killed six in the past several months, has been found to breed in the human body much faster than SARS and can evade the immune system just as easily as a common cold.

Last September, a Qatari man was diagnosed with a respiratory illness similar to the SARS virus. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), this 49-year old man was the second person confirmed to have been diagnosed with the new coronavirus.

The masked palm civet (Paguma larvata), also known as the gem-faced civet, can be found in Southeast Asia and the Indian Subcontinent. Its range includes China and the islands of Sumatra, Borneo, Taiwan, and the island chains of Nicobar and Andaman. It does occur in Japan, but experts do not know if it is native or introduced in that area of its range. It prefers a habitat within temperate deciduous forests and tropical rainforests.
The masked palm civet resembles most other civets in body...

The SARS coronavirus is the virus that causes severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS). In 2003 the World Health Organization issued a press release stating that the coronavirus identified by a number of laboratories was the official cause of SARS.
It causes severe illness marked initially by systemic symptoms of muscle pain, headache, fever, followed in 2-10 days by the onset of respiratory symptoms, mainly cough, dyspnea, and pneumonia. SARS patients have a decrease in the number of...